Up in arms: Local gun sales blasting off

Wednesday

Dec 19, 2012 at 8:34 PM

When a Houma gun retailer was asked Wednesday if he was busy, he gave a two-word answer.

Xerxes WilsonStaff Writer

When a Houma gun retailer was asked Wednesday if he was busy, he gave a two-word answer. “It’s pandemonium,” said Calvin Prevost, owner of Houma Auto Parts, a gun shop on Honduras Street that once was a place for vehicle accessories.While customers snapped up weapons Wednesday, President Barack Obama was asking Congress to reinstate a ban on assault rifles, impose stricter background checks and tighten restrictions on high-capacity ammunition clips in the wake of the 26 killings at a Connecticut elementary school Friday.While Obama intends to reduce the number of these weapons, his statements may be having the opposite effect.“Sales are booming. It started Friday right after the shootings. Friday was unbelievable,” Prevost said, noting his store has sold weeks worth of merchandise since last week.On Wednesday afternoon, Prevost said he had sold 25 to 30 weapons but couldn’t allow them to leave the showroom because of problems with the FBI background checking system required to sell them.Hugh Eymard, owner of Eymard Guns in Galliano, also reported a spike in business since the shootings. Semi-automatic weapons meant more for protection than hunting are flying off his showroom walls.“People are coming in to buy ARs,” Eymard said of the semi-automatic AR15 rifle modeled after military weapons and used in the Connecticut killings. “All of my distributors are out of ARs. I’ve got some on order with the manufacturers. They said six to eight months.”Ammunition is also scarce.“It’s gone. It is all gone already,” Prevost said. “Since the shootings, we have sold out of basically the popular ammunition. The popular weapons that fire more than one round — there is no ammunition. It is gone. It has disappeared. There is no more ammo left.”Both retailers said a bump in business is expected during the holiday season, but this week is something entirely different.“What (the customers) are telling me is, they are scared,” Eymard said. “They are scared Obama is going to take away their right to own these.”Both retailers aimed disdain of stricter gun policies at the president. Numerous legislators have also come out in favor of more control.“Emperor Obama and Superstorm (Vice President Joe) Biden will cause damage to the gun owner, no doubt,” Prevost said. “Owning a weapon, it is going to be more expensive and more prohibitive. It will take more time to get a gun legally. But the criminals will still buy them on the streets illegally.”Cut Off resident David Gravois stopped into Eymard’s on Wednesday to pick up 500 rounds for his AR-15.“When Obama got into office, I bought the AR,” Gravois said. “The reason is to protect me from the tyranny of the government.”He said he regularly stops in to stock up as he fears government regulation will soon take away his right to purchase guns and ammo.“Someone is going to say ‘if we can’t ban the gun, lets ban the ammunition,’” Gravois said. “So I pick up stuff periodically.”Both the retailers and Gravois expressed grief toward those killed in Connecticut but believe blame is unfairly being put on the firearm instead of the 20-year-old man who pulled the trigger.“The gun didn’t kill people. The person did,” Gravois said. “What are you going to do? Ban water because people drown?”In his comments at a Wednesday news conference, Obama seemed to disagree.“The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing,” Obama said. “The fact that we can’t prevent every act of violence doesn’t mean we can’t steadily reduce the violence.”The president tasked Biden with leading the administration-wide effort to create new gun-control policies. Obama also wants his team to consider ways to improve mental health resources and address ways to create a culture that doesn’t promote violence.Appealing to gun owners, Obama said he believes in the Second Amendment and the country’s strong tradition of gun ownership. And he said “the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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